# Most dangerous job ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949 "2003-03-12T22:08:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/1 "2003-03-12T22:08:42Z")
I remember hearing a long time back, that deep sea divers working on oil rigs were ranked as having the most dangerous jobs (I think from insurance purposes). Fishermen and Police Officers (in certain countires) would also be ranked highly. Any Dopers got other suggestions ? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/2 "2003-03-12T22:18:01Z")
[This site](http://www.askmen.com/toys/top_10/16_top_10_list.html) lists the ten most dangerous jobs in the world. The number one most dagerous is Alaskan king crab, according to them. I saw a PBS documentary on them once. They lose, on average, one man per week during the fishing season. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/3 "2003-03-12T22:19:59Z")
A news article I just saw today said fishing. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/4 "2003-03-12T22:21:23Z")
Emergency medical personnel have a pretty dangerous job. Heavy physical labor, dangerous conditions like wrecked cars and violent crimes, combative patients or bystanders, exposure to all sorts of biohazard type stuff, being out in the elements. There’s all sorts of ways to get yourself hurt. This is nowhere the top of the list, but vet teching is more dangerous than most people would think. Heavy lifting, radiation exposure, potentially slick floors, exposure to zoonotic diseases, dealing with toxic substances and biological wastes, and the constant risk of mauling. (We had a patient last night who prompted a discussion of truly _bad_ bites we’d seen over the years.) ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/5 "2003-03-12T22:22:42Z")
[Here we go](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20030312/ts_usatoday/4938157). ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/6 "2003-03-12T22:27:46Z")
If you believe Eric Schlosser, it’s being a slaughterhouse worker: > [@](#): > > “Meatpacking is now the most dangerous job in the United States. The injury rate in a slaughterhouse is about three times higher than the rate in a typical American factory. Every year more than one-quarter of the meatpacking workers in this country … suffer an injury or a work-related illness that requires medical attention beyond first aid. There is strong evidence that these numbers … understate the number of meatpacking injuries that occur.” ---
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/7 "2003-03-12T22:31:33Z")
Interesting top ten there QED. I would never have thought of logger, but it makes sense. Perhaps ‘oil rig diver’ is too specialist to be listed, wish I could remember the source for that, TV probably. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/8 "2003-03-12T22:37:06Z")
Defining a job’s dangerousness in terms of the rate of “injury or work-related illness that requires medical attention beyond first aid” is pretty pathetic. Dangerous jobs _kill_. Yes, Alaskan salmon fishermen are among the most doomed workers in the world (about 1.5 per 1000), followed closely by fishermen in other waters, also closely by loggers, and quite distantly by firefighters and police officers. ---
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/9 "2003-03-12T22:38:25Z")
While doing some searching about oil rig divers (which are mentioned as having one of the most dangerous jobs), I came across a site about diver Jim Kozmik, of whom it says: …a black belt in Tae Kwon Do who has been a deep-sea and oil-rig diver, a police officer, SWAT team leader, intelligence officer, and undercover motorcycle gang operative . That adds up to a lot of danger ! ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/10 "2003-03-12T22:41:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nametag \* > **Defining a job’s dangerousness in terms of the rate of “injury or work-related illness that requires medical attention beyond first aid” is pretty pathetic.** Calm down. You’re being more than a little harsh given that nobody has defined “dangerous”. Is a job that kills 0.15% of the people that perform it more or less dangerous than one that requires non-first aid treatment for 26.7% of the people that perform it? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/11 "2003-03-12T22:46:17Z")
To expand - nobody would claim that the loss of life isn’t “dangerous”, but how do you measure “danger” when the end result isn’t always the same? ---
**Author:** ![Linguini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ab097/32.png) [@Linguini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linguini)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/12 "2003-03-13T01:19:19Z")
Sales. Name another occupation where you face rejection daily, have people treat you poorly and lie to you on a regular basis. The danger is not physical but mental. ---
**Author:** ![peterW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bb73d2/32.png) [@peterW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peterW)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/13 "2003-03-13T01:31:42Z")
Isreali bus drivers. They must be pretty brave souls to be doing what they are doing, knowing any given day could be their last. ---
**Author:** ![nikkinick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/779978/32.png) [@nikkinick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikkinick)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/14 "2003-03-13T02:33:46Z")
My husband has been injured several times during the years he’s been commercial fishing, and no one wants to insure him. He loves his job though. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/15 "2003-03-13T06:09:34Z")
Another specialized field: **NASA astronaut**. I believe there have been fewer than 1000 of them, and 17 have died on the job. ---
**Author:** ![Azael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@Azael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azael)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/16 "2003-03-13T06:26:02Z")
Iraqi Soldier ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/17 "2003-03-13T06:35:07Z")
Astronauts have a dangerous job. 17 deaths on the American Program, plus the deaths in the Russian Program, out of a total of maybe 200 astronauts. Very dangerous. I am looking up exact numbers right now. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Montana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/18 "2003-03-13T06:38:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrazyCatLady \* > \*\*Emergency medical personnel have a pretty dangerous job. Heavy physical labor, dangerous conditions like wrecked cars and violent crimes, combative patients or bystanders, exposure to all sorts of biohazard type stuff, being out in the elements. There’s all sorts of ways to get yourself hurt. > > This is nowhere the top of the list, but vet teching is more dangerous than most people would think. Heavy lifting, radiation exposure, potentially slick floors, exposure to zoonotic diseases, dealing with toxic substances and biological wastes, and the constant risk of mauling. (We had a patient last night who prompted a discussion of truly _bad_ bites we’d seen over the years.) \*\* All due respect to those who do that stuff…but it sounds all warm and fuzzy, like a walk in the park amongst the tulips on spring day with a gentle breeze Ex Commercial fisherman here(Alaska), yes it can get hairy… Also been a carpenter for years (ohh the stories I could tell) ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@Dave\_D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_D)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangerous-job/160949/19 "2003-03-13T07:31:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DreadCthulhu \* > \*\*Astronauts have a dangerous job. 17 deaths on the American Program, plus the deaths in the Russian Program, out of a total of maybe 200 astronauts. Very dangerous. I am looking up exact numbers right now. \*\* Well if you’re going to list a job with few people and high fatality rate what about US President? I mean there’s been 43 of them and around 8 of them died in office.(Around a 20% mortality rate.)